"I am very wary of turning the guestbook into a Blade Runner forum! I can certainly talk about it endlessly, but don't want to flood this area with one topic. Of course the Message Board is a good place for such discussion, but is 'inside' so may exclude some. Or check out the newsgroup alt.fan.blade-runner where this one out of Rutger's many films is always a matter of discussion! Questions... I don't know why there wouldn't be phone booths in the future, even if mobile phone technology remains. Not everyone has a cellphone. What if the battery runs out? What if you don't like your location being easily traced, etc. Many of PKD's themes do actually come out in the movie - paranoia, Big Brother watching, and of course the concept that Deckard might be the same as what he is chasing exemplifies the paranoia and also heightens the question of What is Human? that pervades the film. I'm not keen on trying to get to the answer of whether Deckard is human or replicant - rather it is the fact that the question is asked which seems to be the point. Anyway, I'll happily follow up any questions on BR here, in the Board or in any other BR forum you may wander into. (Or indeed aimed towards the obvious website.) "I thought you were supposed to be good. Aren't you the good man? Come on! Oh, Deckard! Show me ... what you're made of." Netrunner

"More BR questions. Why would Rachael not be as strong as the other Reps? Well, they come in different levels of strength. Roy is Level A, but Rachael could be level C. One might think that If Tyrell doesn't want here to discover her nature too quickly, that she would not be one of the stronger Reps (and hasn't had combat training either.) // I don't hold with Deck-a-Rep myself, but the argument would be the same for him - if he were a Rep, he could be physical level C. // The paranoia of DADoES and PKD generally that Fancher picked up on in the script and Scott took forwards was actually more of a stab at the world as it already was rather than a future nightmare. For example, PKD's example of the WWII Nazi officer being irritated at the screams of concentration camp victims keeping him from getting a good night's sleep because they were loud rather than because of why they were screaming showing how people can be dehumanized. Fear of a police state, concerns over Big Brother. And Scott's inclusion of all those uniformed police on the street was aimed at the L.A. police of 1981, not a futuristic vision! // Blade Runner has become one of the most popular films ever made partly because of all the most excellent people who cereated it (especially RH) and partly because of the fundamental philosophical questions it raises." Netrunner

"Oh God, seems like I could talk about BR endlessly..and it is especially fascinating here, since one certain 'replicant' is watching, though he must have had maybe a little too much of this topic by now..or??? /// Cell phones also need batteries! They have a short life span, only a couple of days or less! And they are costly too. To be honest I couldn't like less the idea of "Big Brother watching" the cell phones. ///. I didn't realize before that those replicants had different physical levels and training, so that explanates why Deckard and Rachael seemed so weak in comparison with Pris, Roy, Leon and Zhora. By the way, I have never discussed about BR in any other forum." O'cider

"Ok, putting Blindside on the shelf to give my take on all of this (unprecedented moment icon). Aren't we all robots to some extent? I mean look at us? look at our daily lives. Do blow up dolls not have feelings too? I don't think Deckard was a human or a replicant. I think he was a pathetic bore who needed to get over himself. Roy and Pris had something special. Deckard only wished he had what they did even though he never said so in words. And as the elevator door closed, who knows if he got what he wished for? But we know Roy died content and saw and felt things that Deckard only dreamed of or never considered at all. How many of us humans will be able to do the same when our time comes?" Renee #2

"Hey Netrunner - where are you getting all that from? I don't remember there being anything on subtypes in the movie or the book. Or - was that on the vid-screen when Bryant was showing Deckard the replicants? I know Pris was supposed to be a "Basic Pleasure Model". For being a basic model, she certainly could kick butt! There are other books out on it now that you all have been talking about - I haven't read them. Is that where the info comes from? Do tell!" Tori

"Hey Netrunner - I found it. I pulled out my BRAND new copy of the Bladerunner DVD, signed by hisself, (with a little heart, I might add!) and went in for a look at the replicants on the vid-screen, and they did, indeed, have physical and mental classifications. HF doesn't look so much like he does the puppy-dog-head-cock from a normal viewing range. Odd. // Now, about the Unicorn! I'm sitting there thinking, sure, I can see placing memories in their minds, giving them a mother a father and a happy childhood - but why the memory of a Unicorn - something that doesn't exist? They should have left that out. AND my opinion - Deckerd was just a man, otherwise they would have "retired" him when he chose to retire as a Blade Runner the first time. AND that little oragami Unicorn at the end meant absolutely NOTHING - except that Deckerd had seen that guy make little oragami figures and knew from it that guy had been to his apartment while he was gone, and had chosen to leave Rachel alone. // This reminds me of Total Recall! heh! My opinion on it; the whole thing was a dream! Blue skies on Mars! heeheeheeheehee!" Tori

"Yep, me here. What book? An interpretation of Blade Runner? I might buy that one; I loaned 'the Electric Sheep's Dream' novel from the library, so I don't even have that one./// Hey Tori, I think I can guess why the Unicorn is in the BR. It's because there are some Biblical references there and the unicorn is one of them. The unicorn can also be a symbol of Christ (some other things too). So, that's my guess. And also, in the novel there were horses; Deckard's neighbor had a horse and that's pretty close to a unicorn. (I realized I don't remember all the details so well any more, so I could as well find the novel and read it again..)" O'cider

"Hey O'Cider! Remember the part in the novel, where Rachel throws Deckerd's goat off the roof? Now, there was an android throwing a fit of pique for sure!" Tori

"Heehee I'm enjoying all this Bladerunner debating which is now going on. Look forward to the BR page ;~) When I first started reading the book Tori I had a different reaction to you towards that playoff Deckard and his wife had with each other using their mood gizmo's. Maybe if this had occurred later on I'd have found it funny but because it was at the start of the novel I thought it was pathetic and irritating and wondered if it was necessary and what it was setting the scene for. When Deckard is on the roof checking on his lecky sheep and he talks to his neighbour about his neighbours pregnant horse now thats what got me laughing. Deckards fascination for that animal in particular amuses me. Wish I knew why ;~) The unicorn, ah well if false memories can be implanted then so to can the memory of a recurring dream be implanted too. Deckard will always be a replicant to me. I guess they never 'retired' him because his services may be needed in the future when renegade replicants like Batty and co turn up. It takes a rep to catch a rep! ;~)))So in that scene where Deckard is looking at old photos I have to disagree with Cazzie too (LOL)I think the irony is that he is wondering what it would be like to be in Rachaels position of suddenly finding out you are a rep, but that he never even entertains the notion of being a replicant himself. Hence the paper unicorn lets him know that he is a rep as how else would anybody know he'd been dreaming about a unicorn unless he told somebody. He hadn't told anybody so its an implanted dream. I agree about J.F. Sebastian though, I like him. He is grateful to have found some new friends but he had a hand in making the reps too. I think he feels comfortable and empathizes with them (until Batty reveals his plans to visit his maker) since they have things in common, i.e. they are outcasts like him who share as Pris puts it, "accelerated decrepitude". Anyway Bladerunner is still a stunning and timeless classic to me with Roys unforgettable demise being the memorable scene which gets me every time still. Not a violent death but a poetic and romantic one. The choker is that he dies but his corpse doesn't loll about or collapse into a heap on the floor. He just sits there with his head bowed and we are shown this for a few seconds. Still beautiful. He could even just be asleep although we of course know hes dead. Aaaaw poor replicants, they weren't bad. Of course we are still thinking about this as the story concludes. We know Rachael and Deckard are going to run off together and by now do we really care anymore? The only significant thing is Deckard finding the paper unicorn." Sarah

"Wow, I've just been catching up on all the entries. My take on Blade runner is not as informed as most of the rest of you. I saw it once before the convention. I also was a bit depressed at the begining. The idea that we let our planet get in such a deplorable state and thinking it would be terriblr if that was what the future holds, of corse I realise this is just a movie and 20 years old at that. Still 20 years ago I guess it was not so far fetched to create such a world. We did treat our enviorment in such a way that we only cared about our time here and gave very little thaught to future generations. I think Blade Runner may have opened the eyes of the population and if it did nothing else, that alone was a real crdit to this movie. I choose to see Deckerd as human and Roy, at the end, saving his life, well I think he did it as a part of his android training, and just because he could. He was teaching the human how to be more human. He had wanted to be human and for so long saw humans in his own way abusing the privalage of being human. He let Deckard dangle off the building, long enough to realise his own mortality and then snatched him from the jaws of death. Roy was a master at mind games in my view, he played with Deckers head. In the end to me he was more human than Deckard. He knew his time was up and he used his last minutes trying to improve the human condition. I realise this is way different than most of the views Ive read but it is my view." Diz